


Happy Birthday Captain

by Notevenwinded



Category: Captain America (2011), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-15
Updated: 2012-03-15
Packaged: 2017-11-01 23:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/362730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notevenwinded/pseuds/Notevenwinded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is working on a special birthday gift for Steve</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday Captain

Tony wasn’t exactly sure if Steve celebrated his birthday. Hell, he didn’t even know how old he was turning, if he counted the years he has been sleeping or not. It was a complicated case, he just knew _when_  his birthday actually was, one of the countless books he had about CaptainAmerica as a kid was kind enough to inform him.

He wanted to believe that he was a busy man, busy enough to not being able to remember the birthdays of his co-workers and teammates, even if everyone else remembered his. Steve was a different case though. Steve was.. well, Steve, one of a kind. He told Jarvis to remind him about the event countless of times, even though he actually remembered it himself, and even if he didn’t, the silent murmur whenever Steve entered a room where the rest of the team was made him well aware that they were throwing a party for the Captain.

“Tony? Are you actually getting the poor guy anything at all or should I take care of it?”, Pepper asked the day before, waiting for a reply from under a car, slightly kicking Tony’s legs.

“Ow!”, the reply came, the sound of the wrench dropping inaudible, as Tony’s “work” music was blasting off. “Yeah, I’m working on that and you’re just distracting me, so if you don’t mind..”

“I hope you are, don’t be a jerk and show up with no present for him”, she sighed, rushing outside the workshop as her phone started ringing.

After a few moments, Tony rolled and got up, inspecting his work. He really didn’t know what the status of his relationship with Steve was at that point. They only got to first base so far, and that even surprised Tony, he actually didn’t understand how he lasted that long without moving on. When they moved past their initial arguments, they started to hang out together, Tony trying hard to make Steve feel at home, come in terms with modern times, and Steve talking about Howard and “the good times back then when kitchen appliances didn’t have murderous intentions”. They started laughing at each other’s jokes, meeting more often, cuddling up when they would watch sports or a movie at Tony’s place, which eventually leaded to Tony being blunt once again, taking the initiative to kiss the Captain. Steve then disappeared for a few days, only to come back again and randomly greet Tony with a kiss when they were all alone.

The billionaire knew that Steve wasn’t a man of many words, and during those short encounters he would shut up himself, afraid that Steve would stop doing what he did. And boy, CaptainAmericawas quite the gifted kisser. He was the opposite of Tony, who would kiss fast, his kisses being short and wet. Steve was slow, taking his time to savour every moment of the kiss, deepening it before moving back once and for all. They never spoke about the relationship they shared, and Tony didn’t dare to take this initiative.

For Steve’s big day though, he had the annoying need of wanting to do something special for him. He actually planned it a while back, starting to get the pieces together, taking his time to make it perfect. He actually hated himself a bit for that, if that was even possible, as being a perfectionist for his own purposes sure, it was fine, but why the hell did he care about a present for a future, well hopefully, night’s entertainment. He shook his head annoyed. The keyword was “care”. Of course he cared, it was all about CaptainAmerica, the only person he looked up to as he grew up, his comics and figures keeping him company at nights. He was thrilled to meet him, and even more thrilled to meet the man behind the costume, Steve Rogers. Perhaps they started their meeting badly, both of them having really dominant personalities, but he was surprised that in this point they would fall asleep on a couch next to each other.

Tony found himself smiling, trying to focus on his work instead. He knew Steve enjoyed driving. In fact, it was one of the things they had in common. He still remembered the happiness on Steve’s face when his motorcycle was recovered. Somehow, he just couldn’t see Steve driving a racing car, the man was still carrying that 40’s air with him, refusing to let go most of the things related to his past. And then, the idea came to him. Tony Stark only had to make a few phone-calls and invest an amount of money that meant nothing to him to get what he was after. There he was, smiling proudly at a 39’s Buick Eight Convertible, custom painted blue that he tinkered around and made it available to drive in a decent speed. Sure, it wasn’t a battle vehicle in any means, but it would hopefully made Steve happy and wanting to drive it around the city when he was out of duty and didn’t want to use his bike instead.

“Hey, Jarvis? Can you throw a couple of white stripes on the sides? Or should I go with red.. Definitely not both, it would be too patriotic even for him”, he muttered sceptically, narrowing his eyes so he could take a decision.

“I would suggest going with white, Sir, red attracts too much attention if you ask me, but of course you would know best” Jarvis replied.

“You’re hilarious, I know. Fine I trust you with this, white it is”, Tony chuckled, stretching his arms, that were in tense after working under the car for a couple of hours. A long shower and an early night sounded great right now, after all, he was going to need all the courage he wanted to tomorrow.

 

The next morning passed really slowly in the whole team’s dismay, but the look on Steve’s face when he stepped inside the meeting room late in the afternoon made them forget all about the tough training sessions. Tony was satisfied that Pepper didn’t offer to organise anything for Steve like he did for his birthday party, having to exchange words with people he didn’t even remember. A few people were there, the team, agents, people close to the team, simple things that wouldn’t scare Steve away. He was looking good in his brown leather jacket and buttoned up blue shirt, flashing his smile at everyone who wished him “Happy Birthday” and handed him presents. Tony himself honoured the day wearing a dark blue tie and a suit, instead of his normal pick of a band shirt and jeans that Steve was used to. He kept a small distance, looking at Steve who was still busy thanking everyone, taking a few sips from a glass in his hands.

“Really Tony? You didn’t get him anything? I told you-”, Pepper started to scold him, her hair let down in a gracious way.

“Relax Pepper, his present is big enough not to fit here, I need to give it to him afterwards”, Tony reassured her, feeling a bit bad on the thought that Steve might think the same thing Pepper did. He looked at him again, only to look away in shame as Steve gazed upon him. Was he disappointed? Did he expect anything from him? “Geez Pepper, if you don’t believe me ask Happy, I told him to bring it over later”, Tony said quickly, as Pepper walked away to join Maria and Natasha.

“Hey Cap”, Tony smiled at Steve who finally managed to stand next to him. “Happy Birthday”

“Thanks Tony”, Steve said with an unfamiliar bitterness in his voice. “You know, that’s the first birthday I celebrate since I.. woke up”, he continued, looking at him.

“Yeah I’m aware of that. Didn’t this meet up to your expectations?”, Tony asked in confusion, his fears starting to become true.

“I was expecting something but.. never mind”, Steve sighed, trying to get that smile back on his face. “Come on, Thor and Clint are going to have a drinking contest”

 The rest of the night was pretty all right, there was some dancing involved and only Bruce offered to carry a smashed Clint back to his room, Thor left to laugh maniacally after Clint landed on his face during a surprise jump from the stage. Tony decided to be left outside of this, and it was hard to resist, but he needed to be sober for that night. The people started to leave, and Steve seemed to have the same intentions.

“Steve!”, Tony shouted, running after the younger man who turned to look at him with a hint of hope on his expression. “I need to show you something. I mean, your present, it’s outside”. He waited for the confirmation from Happy, as he told him to drive the car carefully and leave it here, himself having a copy of the keys.

“You got me something?”, Steve asked with a smile, following Tony down the hall and into the elevator.

“Of course I did, I’m pretty sure you were expecting a gift anyway”, Tony laughed, relieved that Steve joined him. As soon as the stepped outside the elevator he stepped in front of him, stopping him from walking outside. With Steve raising his eyebrow, he pulled out of his pocket a pair of car keys, hung on a Stark Industries key-ring. “Can you guess what is it?”, he asked, trying not sound as excited as he was.

“Um..  a car? Seriously Tony, that is not okay at all, I mean other people gave me shirts and cards and-”, Steve replied with a blush, feeling bad about whatever Tony seemed to have in mind.

“Not just  _any_ car”, Tony smirked and without thinking about it twice, he grabbed Steve’s warm hand and dragged him outside, pointing at the corner.

“Is that.. Tony is that a-”, Steve started to stutter, slowly walking towards the parked car, looking all shiny.

“A Buick Eight Convertible, yeah that’s right”, Tony smiled, following him and looking at his reactions.

“Tony, that came out in 1939, I remember the adverts and.. how did you even get one of those?”, he asked, still in awe as he poked the hood, afraid that he would ruin it.

“Nothing’s hard for me, Steve”, Tony said proudly. “You can touch it, I got it for you so you can drive it, not drool over it. It’s not as slow as you think it is either, I messed a lot with its engine lately”

“I.. don’t know what to say, I mean, I wanted one of these ever since they came out, but you know, they weren’t exactly affordable.. and my size wasn’t the best for driving a car like that… And after the war broke out so I was.. busy”, Steve started to say. Tony knew that when Steve was blurting out stuff like that he was feeling unease.

“Do you like it then? You can say ‘thank you’”, Tony joked, standing next to him by now.

“Thank you, I really mean it, thank you, Tony, I don’t know what to say really. I mean, this is probably the best present I ever got in my life.. No scratch that last part”, he said quickly with a blush.

“Oh? Do I need to overtop someone else then?”, Tony asked a bit annoyed, without even knowing why.

“I already got the best gift from you, and this car, not even a hundred of those can top it”, the Captain replied with a calmer voice.

“I don’t recall giving you anything else..” Tony answered slowly, scratching his head.

Steve didn’t reply, instead he stepped forward, taking Tony into a tight hug, pleased that after his initial amazement, Tony placed his hands around the soldier’s waist.

“You’re the best present I could ever ask for, Tony”, he said with a soft tone, refusing to let go, just not yet.

Tony blinked a couple of times, trying to realise what he heard. He was shocked, yes, but it somewhat felt.. nice. He knew Steve as a man that barely talked about his feelings, but there he was now, expressing something deep about him, Tony Stark, the man that his reputation preceded him.

“I’m.. glad that you accepted me”, Tony managed to say, trying hard to keep his voice from breaking. “Do you mean that.. we’re dating or something?”, he asked quickly, trying to put the pieces together.

“I thought it was obvious? I mean, I wouldn’t kiss you if we weren’t, right?”, Steve said with a blush, after he let go of him.

“Um.. yes of course, I guess I needed that verification because you never mentioned it before, it was kind of confusing to figure out”, Tony blurted, pulling a face. “So, can we have proper birthday fun tonight?”, he asked with a grin.

Steve raised an eyebrow, patting him on the head. “We’re still taking things slowly. How about I take you for a ride and then discuss our plans later?”, Steve suggested with a new air of determination, getting in the driver’s seat, waving at Tony.

“Sounds good to me”, Tony smiled, sitting by him and leaning closer for a kiss. “Are  we properly together now then?”, he asked, just to hear it again.

Steve pulled back after a long, rather emotional kiss, only to smile and start the car. “You’re the genius, you should figure it out yourself, love”, he winked, driving slowly and steadily off the parking lot.

Tony smiled in his seat, eyes focused on the road. He could get used to this.


End file.
